Justin Schultz had his best game in some time against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, and the coaching staff milked it for all it was worth, giving the young defenceman nearly 30 minutes of ice-time. It wasn’t enough as the Oilers fell 5-2 to St. Louis on a night where defencemen both old and young let the team down and goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov was not sharp.

Nail Yakupov scored a goal and finished plus-one, continuing a run of excellent play, and Mark Arcobello had the other goal for the Oilers.

Player Grades

The following are the player grades for the Oilers, with 10 being a “perfect” game, 9 extraordinary, 8 great, 7 good, 6 above average, 5 average, 4 below average, 3 poor, 2 terrible and 1 deserving of almost instant demotion. Compiled by Jonathan Willis.

#2 Jeff Petry, 5. Petry made his first giveaway of the game early in the first period, resulting in a scoring chance for St. Louis. He made up for it a little over halfway into the same frame, laying a heavy hit in the corner of his own zone and taking the puck off a fallen Vladimir Sobotka. He did the same thing with a little under three minutes left in the opening frame, hip-checking a Blues’ attacker and putting the puck into question; Jordan Eberle and Martin Marincin would eventually win the battle to start the play moving the other way. He took a delay of game minor after putting the puck over the glass near the end of the first. Almost got in trouble in the second when he couldn’t handle a pass, but he made a desperation play and negated the mistake.

#4 Taylor Hall, 4. Hall made a really nice takeaway in his own end on the shift following Mark Arcobello’s goal to prevent a dangerous chance against. He made a poor giveaway to Max Lapierre (of all people) trying to exit his zone in the third which led to an unthreatening shot against. He was a non-factor offensively, doing little while his linemates carried the mail in that respect.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 5. Eberle made two bad turnovers in his own end on his first shift of the game, leading to the Blues’ opening scoring chance of the night. He wasn’t trying to do creative things either; he just coughed the puck up in routine plays. He made up for it two shifts later, stealing the puck in his own end off a lost defensive zone draw that led to two really good chances, including one by Eberle on the rebound. A second sneaky takeaway in the offensive zone – victimizing David Backes –didn’t result in a chance thanks to some nice work defensively by the Blues but it came awfully close. He had another chance late in the second on the rebound of a sneaky Jeff Petry shot.

#15 Nick Schultz, 4. Schultz took what was a pretty weak penalty for tripping T.J. Oshiein the first period, but it looked more like a blown call than anything as Oshie just went down while Schultz was forcing him to the outside; St. Louis scored but it’s hard to blame Schultz for what he did. More problematic was a ‘puck as grenade’ moment near the end of the frame, but fortunately for Schultz nobody was on the ball enough to capitalize on the error.

#19 Justin Schultz, 7. Schultz made a smart jump into the play and took a sharp shot just under halfway through the first period for Edmonton’s secondscoring chance of the game. He had a nice defensive zone play early in the second, making a sharp pass to Nick Schultz under pressure to start an Edmonton attack that led to Nail Yakupov’s goal. A sharp pinch turned a Jay Bouwmeester ring-around the boards into an Oilers offensive zone possession and led to Mark Arcobello’s goal. He made another smart play, stealing the puck in his own end early in the third and then a weaker giveaway two shifts later that Andrew Ference had to cover for. Overall he had a really good game for the Oilers, playing over 28 minutes on the night.

#20 Luke Gazdic, 5. Gazdic’s first really memorable shift featured a bad defensive zone giveaway which led to an Oilers’ icing seconds later, which in turn led to Max Lapierre’s 2-1 goal. His next memorable shift came immediately after, when he did some nice work in front of the net and worked the puck out front to Mark Arcobello, who knotted the game at two. He had a couple of punishing hits on the forecheck on the shift directly following the Blues’ 4-2 goal.

#21 Andrew Ference, 3. Ference had an awful shift roughly three minutes in, first losing a footrace to an iced puck and then blowing a tire in the corner; he could have been called for interfering with Ryan Reaves but the referees let it go and the result was just a good scoring chance for St. Louis. He prevented a Blues’ scoring chance later in the same frame by standing in a shooting lane and having the wrist shot go off his leg but then later in that same shift allowed a chance because he couldn’t tie up T.J. Oshie in front of the net. He picked up an assist on Mark Arcobello’s goal later on by the simple expedient of putting the puck on net when he got an opportunity. A few minutes later he again came up short in a footrace against Reaves and then got into trouble in front of his own net for a chance against. Reaves had his number over the game; late in the second period the two got tangled in the corner and Ference had to limp off the ice after his skate broke. The referees’ refusal to blow the play dead lead to another chance against.

#26 Mark Arcobello, 6. Arcobello had the Oilers’ first chance of the game, a tip of a Jeff Petry point shot on his second shift of the night. He had an effective forecheck in place of Ales Hemsky on the third line midway through the third; hitting Jordan Leopold against the boards and creating a turnover with a little help from Boyd Gordon. He also scored one of two Oilers goals on the night.

#27 Boyd Gordon, 5. Gordon is an aggressive penalty killer who really showed his value on his first shift during Ryan Jones’ penalty, forcing the issue at his own blue line and working the puck all the way down the ice. He further won 11 of 20 faceoffs.

#28 Ryan Jones, 5. Jones made a really nice play on the Oilers’ 2-2 goal at the offensive blue line (where he was covering for a pinching Justin Schultz), faking the shot and then working the puck to Andrew Ference. He took a delay of game penalty on a clear that went awry later in the same period, which allowed St. Louis to take the 3-2 lead.

#57 David Perron, 5. The Oilers ended up pinned in their own zone on a long shift less than five minutes in after a terrible giveaway by Perron; he eventually managed to clear the puck but only after a chance against and the opportunity for many more. He did a nicer job defending in his own end later on, breaking up a dangerous cross-ice pass to key an Oilers’ rush. He made a nice play at the offensive blue line to get the puck to Nail Yakupov for Edmonton’s first goal. The first and only chance of the game off his stick came near the end of the second period, a shot from the slot that went just wide. He got caught with a hit in his own end with just under five minutes left in the game and coughed up the puck, though nothing came of it.

#59 Brad Hunt, 2. Hunt was exposed badly on Max Lapierre’s goal, with the veteran NHL’er pushing him off the puck and then taking it hard to the net. He had a really nice hit behind his own net to separate Ryan Reaves from the puck on his very next shift. He made a bad turnover behind his own net early in the third, leading to a dangerous Chris Stewart shot from just outside the scoring chance area. He made a terrible play right in front of his own net in the third that David Backes took away and had a great chance off.

#64 Nail Yakupov, 6. Yakupov had some nice hard backchecking moments in the first period, including one where it looked like he got a stick in the way of a dangerous shot from a pinching Alex Pietrangelo. His strong play continued into the second, where he was given space by a crossed-up Jay Bouwmeester and took advantage, driving in and hammering a shot home. He stripped Patrick Berglund of the puck at the offensive blue line early in the third, though the Oilers couldn’t do much with the possession.

#80 Ilya Bryzgalov, 5. He made a great poke-check at the halfway point of the game with Patrick Berglund alone in front to negate what would have been a great chance against, but despite that play this wasn’t Bryzgalov’s night. He allowed four goals on 29 shots for a 0.862 save percentage on the night.

#83 Ales Hemsky, 5. Dallas Eakins used the third line against David Backes’ unit at times on Tuesday night, and Hemsky had a nice moment in that defensive role early in the first, racing hard for a loose puck along the boards in his own zone, getting to it first and clearing it despite the fact he had to take a heavy hit on the play. He got in on the forecheck do, making a point of laying his body heavily into Alex Pietrangelo off a dump-in later in the first. He took his second hard hit on the cycle in the offensive zone courtesy of Ryan Reaves and was clearly shaken up on the play. He had another physical battle after landing a pretty decent hit on Brendan Morrow that the Blues’ forward took exception to. Eventually he was taken out of the game due to the Reaves hit.

#85 Martin Marincin, 4. A defensive zone turnover on Marincin’s first shift let to a somewhat dangerous shot against. He had a weak moment while trying to kill Nick Schultz’s first period penalty too, getting beat cleanly one-on-one by Chris Stewart moments before the Blues opened the scoring. He showed his upside on a simple play halfway through the second though, taking a puck under pressure and calmly moving it forward in a way the other two guys on the Oilers’ left side often struggle to. He made a defensive zone giveaway early in the third, but Sam Gagner covered for him.

#89 Sam Gagner, 5. Gagner earned the second assist on Nail Yakupov’s goal, tipping a cleared puck at the red line which David Perron calmed down. He had a nice scoring chance on his next shift off some really good passing work by both Perron and Yakupov. He made a bad defensive gaffe late in the third, giving the puck away in his own end.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. Nugent-Hopkins had a glorious shorthanded scoring chance early in the second period, picking off a cross-ice pass and creating a breakaway; he couldn’t score but it was a smart play all the same. He had another decent chance in the third, ringing a puck off the crossbar on a bit of a sharp-angled shot.

#94 Ryan Smyth, 6. For a guy without a lot of footspeed, Smyth is effective on the forecheck – he showed it on his first shift by seizing a loose puck in the offensive zone and tossing it toward the net. He followed that up a couple of shifts later with some yeoman’s work directly in front of the net, turning a Boyd Gordon faceoff win into a nice scoring chance. A bad clearing attempt during the Oilers’ second penalty kill led to one scoring chance against; a better one early in the second period did much to ice that same penalty. He made a great pass to Andrew Ference has Ference closed to the net at the start of the third but the Oilers’ captain didn’t realize it was there; it would have been a superb chance.

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